Former Vice President Kamala Harris declined a request from JD Vance’s family to allow his children an early tour of the vice president’s residence before inauguration, according to remarks Vance made on the debut episode of the Katie Miller Podcast.
Vance said the request was intended to help his three young children — then ages 7, 5, and nearly 3 — adjust to the idea of moving into the home where they would live for the next four years. Recognizing potential political awkwardness, the Vances suggested that only his wife, Usha, and the children make the visit. Harris, he said, “rebuffed” the proposal.
“I think that, normally, it’s customary for the outgoing vice president to show the incoming vice president’s family the house,” Vance said. With the request denied, the family turned to a different solution.
“A friend of ours in Cincinnati had a book about the vice president’s residence, and so we would show the kids what it would look like, but that’s as close as they ever got to it” before inauguration, Vance recalled.
.@VP says after the election, since it’s usually “customary for the outgoing VP to show the incoming VP’s family the house,” he proposed bringing their kids over so they could see their home for the next four years — but Kamala “rebuffed” that request. pic.twitter.com/YC58At8Iqf
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 11, 2025
The snub extended to Vance himself. In keeping with long-standing tradition, the sitting vice president typically invites the incoming vice president for a tour before inauguration. Harris skipped that meeting, breaking with precedent.
Harris has frequently highlighted her role as “Momala” — a nickname coined by her stepchildren, Cole and Ella, after she married her husband, Doug Emhoff.
She described the origin of the name in a 2019 Elle essay and has often cited her close relationship with her stepchildren as part of her public image.
In this case, however, Vance says the personal touch Harris has touted in her own blended family did not extend to her successor’s. Instead, the Vance children’s first real introduction to the vice presidential residence came after Inauguration Day — without the customary welcome from its prior occupant.
